Web void marking device



A ril 28, 1970 A. J. THOMPSON WEB VOID MARKING DEVICE INVENTOR www FiledFeb. 10. 1967 9/16. Fri/ri ALBION J. THOMPSON 72m; F i/WM 16 T 7/4 44 WWATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,508,995 WEB VOID MARKING DEVICE Albion3. Thompson, Millinocket, Maine, assiguor to Great Northern PaperCompany, a corporation of Maine Filed Feb. 10, 1967, Ser. No. 615,143Int. Cl. Gold /04 U.S. Cl. 156-364 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREAn apparatus for sequentially dispensing void markers against movingwebs of paper or other material for the purpose of marking voids orother irregularities as detected in the web. A marker transport elementis effective to accelerate the marker from a remote stationary positionin a magazine to a speed approximately equal to the speed of the movingweb and then urges the marker against the web for attachment to it.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the manufacture, handling and inspectionof web materials, such as paper, it is often necessary to mark selectedsections of a continuous strip or web of the material. Identification ofthese sections may be done for a variety of reasons. For example, webmaterials manufactured and coated using present commercial processesoften have fiaws, voids or other irregularities in their webs or coatedsurfaces. Such irregularities make these web material unsatisfactory formany uses and it is there fore necessary that the irregularities berepaired or that the sections of the material including theirregularites be removed Inspection of the web material is usuallyconducted as it comes off the producing or coating machine and beforethe material is wound onto a roll for storage or shipment. Inspection ofthe completed web material prior to winding it onto rolls has beenaccomplished by visual inspection by the equipment operator or bydetectors or other sensing devices. The marker in the form of a tag orother piece of marking material is inserted at the appropriate timebetween the winding roll and the web material. The marker or tag isinserted in such a manner that one of its ends protrudes past the edgeof the wound roll thus providing a ready identification of the sectionhaving the detected irregularity. The marker is held in position by theforces of friction and pressure exerted by r lled web. A roll ofmaterial wound and marked in this manner is usually transported toanother location where the marked irregularities are either repaired orthe section including the irregularity is removed.

These conventional practices require placing the marker on the web inthe area immediate to the winding roll. This requirement limitspositioning and use of the marker and has the further disadvantage thatit is a dangerous area for manual delivery of markers. This area whichis sometimes known as the nip area is a dangerous area to place a handor arm because the web material or rotating roll will from time to timecome in contact with the hand or arm, causing it to move farther intothe nip where the squeezing action of the winding roll and the Webmaterial result in injury.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a device that isnot limited to placing markers in the nip area but delivers markers intoengagement with the moving web at any selected position along the movingweb.

Broadly, the present invention comprises an apparatus for selectivelyattaching markers to a moving Web where the markers are capable ofattachment to the web by the application of pressure, which apparatusincludes means for selectively dispensing in a sequence a plurality ofmarkers at a position remote from the moving web, marker transport meanspositioned to transport the dispensed markers from the remote positionand deposit them on the moving web, power means for moving the markertransport means between the remote position and a position near themoving web, and regulating means for regulating the speed of thetransport means to cause the marker to be deposited on and pressedagainst the moving web at a speed substantially equal to the speed ofthe web.

It is a feature of the invention that markers may be attached to themoving web at any position along the web travel by mounting theapparatus described at the selected position and it is also a featurethat the apparatus may be readily and quickly adjusted to permitattachment of markers at various speeds of web movement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing FIG. 1 is a sideelevation view of the apparatus without the marker magazine and FIG. 2is an enlarged perspective view of the apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawing the moving web 1travels, as shown by the arrow (FIG. 1), from left to right at aselected speed. It is contemplated that high and low speed webs may bemarked with the present invention; for example, conventional paper webhandling apparatus move paper webs at speeds varying from about 800 to3,000 feet per minute. Stationary shoe 2 provides a supporting surfacefor the web as it passes through the delivery position 20 of theapparatus. Vertically positioned frame 3 has arm 4 mounted for pivotablemovement about axis pin 5. Arm 4 which is held in its rest position byspring 9 is capable of being moved downward to a vertical position(broken lines) by solenoid unit '6 consisting of a coil 7 and a movablecore 8. Core 8 is connected to arm 4 through coupling 28.

An arcuate marker support ramp 10 is mounted on frame 3 with its lowerend terminating at the delivery position 20 adjacent the moving web 1and above the stationary shoe 2. As shown in FIG. 2, a marker 13 isplaced against ramp 10 by a magazine or rotatable drum unit 11 havinggrips 12 and the marker is held in the position until it is transporteddown and onto the moving web. Marker 13 has adhesive 14 applied to oneof its end portions to provide for attachment of the marker to the webat delivery position 20. Ramp 10 is slotted to prevent adhesive 14 frominterfering with the motion of the market during its travel toward theweb to permit finger 16 to position itself against the side of themarker to permit the marker to be pushed by the finger. The marker maybe attached to the web by any other suitable means such as mechanicalfasteners provided that the attachment may be accomplished by placingthe marker in pressure engagement with the moving web.

The marker is removed from its grip 12, transported down ramp 10 andapplied to the moving web 1 by finger 1 6 and resilient pusher 15 bothof which are mounted on end plate 17 which in turn is secured to thelower end of arm 4. Finger .16 is held in its pivotable position, asshown in FIG. 1, by spring 18 such that the lower portion of finger 16is farther from delivery position 20 than that portion of the fingerabove pivot pin 19. The lower end portion 33 of finger .16 includes twoprongs, one adapted to move in slot 30 and the other to move along theoutside edge of ramp 10. An adjustable stop 21 mounted on frame 3 abovedelivery position 20 engages the upper portion of pivotable finger 16 asit nears the bottom of its travel causing the lower portion of thefinger to accelerate to a linear speed substantially the same as that ofthe moving web. Stop 21 is vertically adjustable to vary the linearspeed of the lower portion of finger 16.

Resilient pusher 1S initially holds marker 13 against ramp 10 until itis pushed to the lower end of the ramp by finger 16 where the pusherfunctions to apply pres sure to adhere the marker to the moving web.

Drum unit 11 is rotated about shaft 22 by racket arrangement 23 androcker arm 24. Rocker arm 24 is rocked by reciprocating connector 25driven by solenoid 27. Each reciprocation of connector 25 rotates drumunit 22 one quarter turn and places another marker on the ramp with theadhesive area of the marker over the ramp slot. The drum unit ormagazine and its drive means are supported by conventional means notshown.

In the operation of the apparatus, the coil box 7 of solenoid unit 6 isenergized through a control switch (not shown) which is operated by theequipment operator or by an automatic device detecting a void in themoving web. The electrically-generated forces of coil box 7 causemovable core 8 to move rapidly downward from left to right as vie-wed inFIG. 1. Coupling 28 permits arm 4 to swing freely about pivot pin inresponse to linear movement of movable core 8. Arm 4 continues to movedownward until it strikes button 29 which energizes solenoid 27 to movea new marker into place before pivotal arm 4 returns to its restposition.

During its downward movement arm 4 carries lower finger end 33 includingthe one prong which moves into and along slot 30 of ramp 10 and theother prong which moves alongside the ramp, both prongs engaging andpushing marker 13 out of grip v12 and down the ramp. Pusher holds themarker in front of end 33 and against the surface of ramp 10. As themarker leaves the ramp and comes in contact with the web the pushercauses the adhesive portion 14 of the marker to adhere to the web. Shoe2 supports the web under the delivery position as the pusher urges themarker downward. Additional markers are placed in the empty grips of themagazine as required.

The apparatus of the invention is adjustable to permit the speed of thefinger to be varied to accommodate for varying speeds of Web travel. Inthe embodiment shown in the drawings, the speed of the finger is variedby adjusting the vertical position (H) of stop 21. In the rest or upperposition of the arm 4 spring 18 holds finger 16 in a position at anangle to arm 4. The vertical position of stop 21 determines how fast thefinger is moved to its final vertical position (dashed line FIG. 1)after it has engaged the stop 21 and completed its downward travel. Ifstop 21 is in a high position, the time taken by finger 16 to turn andreach its vertical position is greater than if the stop is in a lowposition. The more time the finger has to move to its final position theslower lower end 33 will be moving as the marker is deposited on andadhered to the web. The less time the finger has to rotate about pivot1? the faster the lower end will be moving. The stop is preferablyadjusted to provide a lower end finger speed approximately equal to thespeed of the moving web.

The closing of switch 29 energizes solenoid 27 (FIG. 2) causing rod 26to move upward rotating magazine or drum unit 11 a quarter of a turn(90) and placing another marker against ramp .10. Upon thede-energization of coil box 7 and the dissipation of kinetic energy ofthe arm and finger as they impact switch 20 and stop 21, spring 9returns the arm to its rest position. Finger 16 and the pusher 15 moveback over the marker just placed on the ramp by the marker holder.Finger 16 pivots about pin 19 as necessary to move back over the markerwithout removing it from the grip 12. The apparatus is then ready foranother cycle.

4 I claim: 1. A device for depositing a marker on a moving Webcomprising,

(a) support means for supporting the marker remote from the moving web,

(b) marker transport means positioned to transport a marker from thesupport means to a position adjacent the moving web, said transportmeans in turn comprising,

(i) a marker carrying element pivotably mounted on said marker transportmeans, said element being capable of turning movement relative to saidtransport means,

(c) adjustable turning means for turning the pivotable marker carryingelement to selectively adjust the speed of the marker carried by theelement to be substantially the same as the speed of the web whereby amarker is removed from the support means, caused to move at a speedsubstantially the same as the speed of the moving web, and deposited onthe moving web.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the marker carrying element has anupper end and a lower end for engaging the marker and wherein theadjustable turning means is a stationary stop means suitably positionedadjacent the moving Web such that the upper end of the marker carryingelement strikes the stop means as the element moves to its positionadjacent the moving web causing the lower end of the element to pivotthereby increasing the speed of the lower end of the element.

3. A device for sequentially delivering and attaching to a moving web aplurality of adhesive coated markers com-. prising,

(a) a frame,

(b) an inclined ramp supported by the frame and positioned with itslower end adjacent a selected section of the moving web,

(c) a rotatable magazine for holding a plurality of markers positionedto selectively deliver markers onto the ramp,

(d) a pivotable reciprocating marker transport element positioned on theframe for movement along the surface of the ramp to engage with andtransport a marker to the moving web at approximately the speed of theweb,

(e) a resilient pusher element mounted on the transport element to pressthe adhesive coated marker against the moving Web,

(f) power means for operating the rotatable magazine to deliver a markerto the ramp,

(g) control means to activate the magazine when the transport elementmoves along the ramp,

whereby a sequence of markers are positioned for transport and aretransported to and attached to the moving web.

4. A device for sequentially delivering and attaching to a moving web aplurality of markers capable of connecting themselves to a web by beingpressed against the web comprising,

(a) support means including a ramp positioned wi its lower end adjacentthe moving web for supporting a marker remote from moving web,

(b) a marker magazine and delivery means for selectively deliveringmarkers to the support means, (c) transport means including a pivotablereciprocating arm capable of movement toward and away from the Web, (d)means for pressing each marker against the web,

and (e) control means actuated by the transport means to cause themarker delivery and magazine means to deliver another marker to thesupport means, whereby a plurality of markers are sequentially deliveredto and pressed against a moving web.

5. A device for sequentially delivering and attaching to a moving web aplurality of markers capable of connecting themselves to a web by beingpressed against the Web comprising,

(a) support means capable of supporting a marker remote from the movingweb,

(b) a marker magazine and delivery means for selectively deliveringmarkers to the support means,

(c) transport means for transporting the markers from their remoteposition to a position adjacent the moving web in a directionsubstantially parallel to the direction of movement of the moving weband with suflicient acceleration to cause the markers to move at speedssubstantially equal to the speed of the web,

(d) means for pressing the marker against the web as it moves at suchspeed which is substantially equal to the speed of the web, and

(e) control means actuated by the transport means to References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 2,378,112 6/1945 Tuthill et al 156--552 X2,735,329 2/1956 Meunier 73-159 X 3,349,611 10/1967 Benjamin et a1 73159X BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner S. C. BENTLEY, AssistantExaminer Us. 01. X.R. 156378, 552

